The present invention relates to a method and system for enabling user interaction with computer software running in a computer system.
The invention has been developed primarily to provide the basis for a surface-based interface which allows a user to interact with networked information and to obtain interactive printed matter on demand via high-speed networked color printers. Although the invention will largely be described herein with reference to this use, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to use in this field.
Presently, users wishing to interact with a computer system typically do so via a keyboard and/or mouse. Whilst such interface systems are useful, they are relatively bulky, and lack the tactile nature of using, say, a pen on paper. In terms of legibility and comfort, information delivered on paper is more physically comfortable and convenient, due to its visual characteristics and its portability compared to computer keyboards and other computer interface devices. However, unlike mouse and keyboard input systems, pen and paper generally lack the ability to control computer software.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of enabling a user to instruct a computer system to perform an operation via:
an interface surface including an interface, the interface including visible graphical information and substantially invisible coded data; and
a sensing device which, when placed by the user into an operative position relative to the interface surface to designate at least some of the graphical information, senses indicating data indicative of the operation using at least some of the coded data;
the method including the steps of, in the computer system:
receiving the indicating data from the sensing device; and
performing the operation indicated by the indicating data;
wherein the graphical information designated by the user is at least partially indicative, to the user, of the operation.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an interface system for enabling a user to instruct a computer system to perform an operation via:
an interface surface including an interface, the interface including visible graphical information and substantially invisible coded data; and
a sensing device which, when placed by the user into an operative position relative to the interface surface to designate at least some of the graphical information, senses indicating data indicative of the operation using at least some of the coded data;
the computer system being configured to:
receive the indicating data from the sensing device; and
perform the operation indicated by the indicating data;
wherein the graphical information designated by the user is at least partially indicative, to the user, of the operation.
In preferred embodiments of either aspect, the graphical information designated by the user is adjacent, or substantially coincident with, coded data upon which the indicating data is based.
Preferably, the graphical information takes the form of any combination of: text; graphics; images; buttons; icons; and hypertext links.
In a particularly preferred form, the coded data takes the form of tags printed onto a piece of paper, the tags being configured to be read by a sensing device in the form of an optical sensing stylus. The tags are preferably printed using an ink that absorbs near infrared light but is substantially invisible to a human viewer under normal lighting conditions. When a user brings a sensing end of the stylus close to the surface, one or more of the tags are imaged, interpreted and decoded to provide an indication of the operation.
Further aspects of the invention will become apparent from reading the following detailed description of preferred and other embodiments of the invention.